


Hurting to Heal

by Eileniessa



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [6]
Category: The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types, Wiedźmin | The Witcher Series - Andrzej Sapkowski
Genre: Angst, Bad Things Happen Bingo, F/F, Harmful healing, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:07:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26128522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eileniessa/pseuds/Eileniessa
Summary: “It’s late,” Yennefer said without looking up, “come back tomorrow, Rectoress, and lecture me then. I don’t have the strength to listen to you today.”There was a soft thud behind her and Yennefer looked round. “Shit!”
Relationships: Tissaia de Vries/Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg
Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1894447
Comments: 9
Kudos: 80





	Hurting to Heal

**Author's Note:**

  * For [brazenedMinstrel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/brazenedMinstrel/gifts).



> Re-uploaded from ‘Bloody Entertainment’.
> 
> Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the books by Andrzej Sapkowski, the game series by CD Projekt Red and the TV series by Netflix. I do not claim ownership to any of these characters and have written this fan fiction for entertainment, not financial gain.
> 
> Warnings: Spoilers for ‘The Witcher’ Netflix show, series 1, episode 7 and 8.

It started out the same as her visit to Rinde. Yennefer was sitting at her vanity, brushing her hair in the mirror when she felt Tissaia’s presence behind her. But unlike before, her arrival was not unexpected.

It had been a few weeks since Sodden had ended and she had slipped out of Aretuza against Tissaia’s advice. The Rectoress had said she would be safer in Aretuza, and though Yennefer agreed, she could not stay. Aretuza had too many bad memories. Instead, she had been trying to lay low in her house in Vengerberg. Her efforts to conceal herself, however, had not been enough to stop the Rectoress from finding her it would seem, or perhaps the woman simply knew her too well.

“It’s late,” Yennefer said without looking up, “come back tomorrow, Rectoress, and lecture me then. I don’t have the strength to listen to you today.”

There was a soft thud behind her and Yennefer looked round. “Shit!”

Tissaia was on her knees, one hand braced against the floor and the other pressed against a bloody gash on the outside of her right thigh that was almost the width of her hand. Loose strands of hair were stuck to her sweaty face and there was a slight trickle of blood running down the side of her nose from the corner of her left eye. Yennefer caught Tissaia by the shoulders as the arm supporting her gave out and eased her into a sitting position.

Supporting her with one arm, Yennefer pulled Tissaia towards her and rested her weight against her. Using a towel she had summoned, Yennefer brushed Tissaia’s hand away from her wound and applied pressure to it. Tissaia’s cheek pressed against Yennefer’s collar bone as she inhaled sharply through gritted teeth. Yennefer could feel the heat of Tissaia’s skin through her nightdress; she was burning up.

Yennefer tightened her grip around the other woman’s waist. “What happened?” she asked.

“I was visiting a girl who had her conduit moment last night when I was ambushed,” Tissaia replied between laboured breaths. “It was a trap. The girl was a doppler and after she cut me with her knife, I was attacked by a group of men hiding in the forest.”

Tissaia trembled. She wrapped a hand around the arm at her waist and muffled her cry in Yennefer’s chest. “I scarcely managed to escape, but I fear that whoever wants me dead might yet succeed. This wound, it's killing me.”

“Then let me heal it.”

Yennefer tried to pull the towel away from Tissaia’s leg, but the Rectoress grabbed her wrist in a weak hold.

“You can’t, not yet,” she said.

Breathless, Tissaia clutched her throat and tried to take a deep breath, but the air seemed to get stuck in her throat and she coughed. Yennefer dropped her hand from Tissaia’s waist to her hip as the older woman struggled to breathe. She rubbed her thumb against Tissaia’s hipbone and waited.

After a minute, Tissaia caught her breath and continued. “The wound, it's poisoned. You must draw out the toxin before you can-“

“What! No, I can’t. I’m not that skilled at healing. I need to take you back to Aretuza, Vedrana can do what you ask. For fuck sake, why didn’t you just go straight there? Why come to me?”

Tissaia locked her fingers with Yennefer’s and squeezed her hand. “Because I trust you.”

Yennefer opened and closed her mouth and rested her chin on the top of Tissaia’s head. She wanted to help, but she hadn’t used the spell that Tissaia spoke of in years and her mastery of it had been poor even back then. She needed time to study, but Tissaia’s pulse had already begun to weaken against her fingers. Everything was happening too fast. Yennefer wondered whether she should ignore the Rectoress’ advice and take her to Aretuza. Tissaia might not think that it was safe to do so, but Yennefer didn’t believe that it could be any more dangerous than her terrible healing skills.

She was pulled from her musings by a fit of coughs that shook Tissaia’s body and made her sink further into the floor and Yennefer’s body.

“Yen-“ Yennefer heard Tissaia’s voice stick in her throat. “Yennefer, I don’t have time to argue with you. I need you to do this for me.”

Yennefer closed her eyes and sighed. “Okay.”

Tissaia bit down on her bottom lip as Yennefer lowered her to the floor and placed her on her side. After putting a pillow carefully under her head, she shuffled down to Tissaia’s legs and pulled up the towel. The wound had mostly stopped bleeding, but the pungent odour that reached Yennefer’s nostrils after she removed the towel told her just how bad it had gotten. Feeling nauseated, Yennefer swallowed the lump in her throat and gritted her teeth as she bent over Tissaia’s thigh and placed her hands on either side of the gash and began the spell.

She felt her magic flood Tissaia’s veins and arteries, locking itself around the toxins infecting her body and then pulling them towards Yennefer’s hands and the open wound. Tissaia screamed before cutting herself off by biting down on her forearm. Her leg jerked under Yennefer’s hands and Yennefer leaned her weight against it and pressed Tissaia’s thigh against the floor to hold it in place. Even though the sound was muffled, Tissaia’s cries ripped through Yennefer’s heart and it took all her self-control to stop her from pulling away or losing concentration. Her knuckles whitened as she gripped Tissaia’s leg tightly and focused on her work. The spell wasn’t supposed to be this painful. If Yennefer was more adept, the only pain she would have caused would be from her grip on Tissaia’s thigh.

After a few minutes, the blood trickling out of Tissaia’s wound darkened and thickened. It was almost black, and Yennefer’s head spun as the smell from the infection intensified. Beads of sweat had started to form on her brow, and when her spell could not detect any more poison and the blood coming from the wound looked normal, Yennefer’s breaths were coming out in short, ragged gasps. She eased the pressure on Tissaia’s thigh and used a spell to pull the chair from her vanity towards her so she could elevate her leg. When she had recovered her breath, Yennefer healed as much of the wound as she could before magically sewing it shut to finish healing later.

Breathless again, Yennefer laid back with her face towards the other woman. Tissaia had her eyes closed and her arm was still partly thrown across her face, wrist in the crook of her neck, from where she had tried to muffle her cries. Watching the rise and fall of her chest, Yennefer noticed that Tissaia’s breathing had evened out. She was in the clear.

Yennefer rubbed the back of Tissaia’s hand. “Tissaia?”

“Yes?” she replied without opening her eyes.

“Should I carry you to the bed?”

Tissaia shook her head slightly. “No. I think I’ve suffered enough indignity for one day. Give me a minute to collect myself, and then help me up.”

Yennefer rolled her eyes but let Tissaia be. She turned onto her back and watched the candle flicker across the ceiling.

After a while, she spoke. “Tissaia?”

Tissaia’s warm breath tickled the side of her face. Yennefer looked over her shoulder and saw the other woman’s relaxed expression. She had fallen asleep.

Yennefer tried to suppress a laugh. “Would it be more of an affront, I wonder, to leave you to sleep on the floor, or to carry you to a bed?”

Yennefer paused and wiped away the strands of hair stuck to Tissaia’s face. Smiling to herself, Yennefer lifted Tissaia off the floor and carried her to the fourposter bed that was, thankfully, only a few steps away. She put Tissaia down and checked on her wound, then collapsed onto the other side of the bed without stripping out of her bloody nightdress. Lying back, she pulled the covers over both of them and quickly fell asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Bad-Things-Happen-Bingo Prompt for brazenedMinstrel on Tumblr: Tissaia and Yennefer harmful healing, The Witcher Netflix.
> 
> If you have enjoyed this piece of work, please consider leaving a comment. It is always wonderful to hear from readers.


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